Word.ws English Dictionary

Niphon

Niphon proper noun: honshu, the largest island of Japan.

Proper noun

Niphon

  1. (obsolete) Honshu, the largest island of Japan.
    • The greateſt of theſe three, which is called Niphon, doth lye from Eaſt to Weſt, and is 700. miles in length and 180. in breadth, and it deuided into three & fifty little Kingdomes or Prouinces, and therein is the noble Citty of Meaco the chiefe and head of all Iapone.1619, W. W. Gent, A Briefe Relation of the Persecution Lately Made Against the Catholike Crhstians, in the Kingdome of Iaponia, volume 1, page 20
    • Niphon, the chief island, is nine hundred miles long, and one hundred miles in average width.1853, “Japan”, in Putnam's Monthly, volume 1, number 3, page 242

Origin of Niphon

From Japanese 日本 (formerly Niffon, now Nippon or Nihon) "Japan".

Questions about Niphon

What does Niphon mean?
Niphon means honshu, the largest island of Japan.
What part of speech is Niphon?
Niphon is a proper noun.

Words near Niphon in the dictionary

  1. niphablepsia
  2. niphargid
  3. niphargids
  4. niphatenone
  5. niphatenones
  6. Niphon
  7. niphotyphlosis
  8. Nipinnawasee
  9. Nipissing
  10. Nipissing District
  11. Nipissings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: Niphon (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “Niphon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/niphon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.